Still no barbs from Lehigh County executive opponents Ott and Muller.

If citizens were looking for a contrast to the vitriolic bickering in Washington during the government shutdown, they should have been at the forum for Lehigh County Executive candidates Friday evening.

A good snipe was hard to find in the short time Republican Scott Ott faced off with Democrat Tom Muller during the League of Women Voters' forum at the County Government Center in Allentown. Ott, a county commissioner and Muller, county director of administration, answered questions about their work experience and whether Cedarbrook, the county's nursing home, should be privatized — barely referring to each other directly.

But they did manage to draw some distinctions before turning the forum over to questions for county commissioner candidates Thomas Creighton III, Percy Dougherty, William Leiner Jr., Susan Ellis Wild, Michael Schware and Wesley Barrett.

Ott was asked if he would consider privatizing Cedarbrook if it continues to run deficits, as it did this year, but he said that was the wrong question.

"We need to figure out if this is a short-term problem or a long-term problem and we need to find out what the appropriate remedies to those problems are," Ott said. "You don't leap to the conclusion before you've made an appropriate diagnosis.

"The whole time we need to keep in mind that for some folks, Cedarbrook might be the only option and we need to have their care primarily in our minds," he said.

Muller said Cedarbrook ran $3.5 million over budget this year due to fewer residents and insufficient state medical assistance reimbursements but it remains a "four-star" nursing home.

"No, I would not consider selling it at any point," Muller said. "We have to look at what other services we can provide there to possibly expand our revenue base."

Asked about work experience, Muller touted his as the county's director of administration for nearly eight years and, before that, as a top-level business executive for companies such as Binney & Smith, which is now Crayola.

"County government is a business," Muller said. "It's $361 million and it's 2,027 employees."

"I've been the administration's No. 1 chief negotiator for the county," Muller said. "I've negotiated 12 contracts. I'm very used to dealing with people in problem situations and getting them solved."

Ott made more of a populist appeal, talking about how his experiences in jobs ranging from writer and online show host to school-bus driver to manager of a Christian children's camp gave him a wide range of skills and perspectives.

He said as a county commissioner, he pushed to keep spending low, including rejecting a proposed bi-county department of health that would have created a costly "new bureaucracy."

He said the county needs to live within its means to avoid tax hikes.

"People don't mind paying taxes for essential government services but they need to know they're getting a good deal on that," Ott said.

During the county commissioners portion of the forum, Democrats Barrett and Leiner said they supported tax breaks to attract the Costco-anchored shopping center to Lower Macungie, as did Republicans Dougherty and Creighton. Barrett's opponent Schware opposed the tax-increment financing, and Wild said it's a decision she would struggle with because she can see both sides.

There were few fireworks until the end of the forum when commissioner candidates were giving closing statements.

Leiner, his opponent, then accused Creighton of breaking some campaign promises from his last election in 2009, including that he would not accept a pay raise.

Wild said her opponent, Dougherty, also went back on a pledge not to accept the commissioners' pay hike of $1,500. In 2012, Creighton and Dougherty accepted the pay increase, which put their annual commissioner salary at $7,000.

Creighton and Dougherty went without the increase for about two years, but accepting it in 2012 gave them the same pay as the other commissioners. At the time they accepted it, Dougherty said, "I was given the pay increase when I was re-elected, but I declined to take it for the first two years. I just thought it wasn't fair at that particular time when I was trying to freeze salaries" for other county employees.